Hello from Haverfordwest
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2022 9:06 pm
Hello from me, another Brian, living in the furthest west part of south west Wales.
I'm not exactly new to model railways. I remember being given one of those clockwork Hornby sets as a child, with a gleaming circle of track, a station and (I think) a level crossing. I still remember Dad setting it up, level crossing on one side and the station dead opposite.
Then he wound up the loco and set the train in motion.
Round and round went the train, quickly at first, then slower, and slower, until it came to a halt astride the level crossing.
I cried and cried! "It didn't stop at the station!" I bawled, and I don't think I ever played with it again. Even at that age, I'd really wanted one of those train sets that had a button you could press to start and stop the train.
That would have been my third birthday. It was July 1939, and I didn't see much of Dad after that until he came home injured in 1944 after crashing his Beaufighter in the Libyan desert.
The desire for a 'proper' train set never went away for the next 80-plus years, but it was never a desire that got fulfilled.
Until last month, when it all got the better of me and I bought myself a Flying Scotsman set (Hornby R1255M).
Now, I'm aiming to set up a layout in the shed that used to be my model shipbuilding workshop. I've got some basic woodworking to do (to extend the running surfaces), but then I'll be desperately looking for some help organising the layout.
First question: Can I actually *cut* the track pieces to make them fit the layout that I want, or do I have to work within the confines of manufactured standard sizes?
I'm not exactly new to model railways. I remember being given one of those clockwork Hornby sets as a child, with a gleaming circle of track, a station and (I think) a level crossing. I still remember Dad setting it up, level crossing on one side and the station dead opposite.
Then he wound up the loco and set the train in motion.
Round and round went the train, quickly at first, then slower, and slower, until it came to a halt astride the level crossing.
I cried and cried! "It didn't stop at the station!" I bawled, and I don't think I ever played with it again. Even at that age, I'd really wanted one of those train sets that had a button you could press to start and stop the train.
That would have been my third birthday. It was July 1939, and I didn't see much of Dad after that until he came home injured in 1944 after crashing his Beaufighter in the Libyan desert.
The desire for a 'proper' train set never went away for the next 80-plus years, but it was never a desire that got fulfilled.
Until last month, when it all got the better of me and I bought myself a Flying Scotsman set (Hornby R1255M).
Now, I'm aiming to set up a layout in the shed that used to be my model shipbuilding workshop. I've got some basic woodworking to do (to extend the running surfaces), but then I'll be desperately looking for some help organising the layout.
First question: Can I actually *cut* the track pieces to make them fit the layout that I want, or do I have to work within the confines of manufactured standard sizes?